Travelling To The Top
by GoTheDist
Summary: Ryker Gladson has struggled after his defeat in the Lily of the Valley Conference. Join him and his best friend, Shauntella Sebastian, as they go through the Unova region and discover themselves and real life.


Chapter 1: To New Beginnings

 **AN: Welcome to what will hopefully be an amazing story for me to write and for you to read. This story will not have any of the anime characters be the focus, unless I decide to add them in, which will be cameos at best. So Enjoy!**

Ryker Gladson's Togekiss fell to his longtime rival, Tobias' Absol's Play Rough, determining his loss at the Lily of the Valley Conference in the Top 4.

"Ugh...I can't believe I lost to him again..." Ryker upsettingly said. His best friend, Shauntella Sebastian, came over to console him. She turned off the television and just talked to him about his loss. "I could've done so much more. Togekiss could've countered with Aura Sphere. I couldn't get her to focus..."

"I know, Ryker. Professor Birch will still be proud of your accomplishments. You've made it pretty far in our past travels. Top 8 in both the Indigo and Silver Conferences. Top 4 of the Ever Grande Conference. You have Lily of the Valley to add to your resume. It's a really amazing list for a trainer of your age."

"Yeah, it is. I'm only 16 and I've gotten pretty far. Could be better. Tobias won the Conference. He has the chance to battle the Elite Four."

"True. There's a region opening up for foreign trainers soon. The Unova region. From what Professor Birch told me, the pokemon that we know won't be over there in the wild, and the pokemon are exclusive to that region only."

"Wow. That sounds amazing. We should go. When does it open?"

"Soon. I think in two days. The flight itself will take a day or so."

"Perfect! That should give me enough time to choose which ones to bring along. I have a pretty good idea of who. When's the boat getting to Littleroot?"

"Ten minutes."

The two friends since birth it seems like, both started their journeys at different times in different regions. It happened after Shauntella's family had to move rather abrupt days before her tenth birthday. Ryker promised to travel through Kanto as soon as he got his trainer's license. He received his Treecko from Professor Birch and true to his word, got to Kanto as soon as possible. Shauntella was getting ready to leave after she got her starter from Professor Oak, when Ryker appeared in Pallet Town.

* * *

 _Flashback Start_

"Welcome. You must be Shauntella Sebastian," a too happy Professor Oak said. "How was your trip here from Hoenn?"

"Fine. I already know who I want."

"Who?"

"Squirtle. I want to train Water types. Similar to Misty, Wallace and Juan. Their strength and abilities across the board fascinate me. I was going to get a Mudkip in Hoenn," Shauntella said remembering the strength of a Swampert in one of the past Ever Grande Conferences.

"Alright then. A future type specialist." Professor Oak grabbed Squirtle's pokeball and called him out. "Squirtle! Meet your new trainer! Shauntella Sebastian!" A Squirtle appeared out the pokeball, dancing about.

"Hi Squirtle. I'm Shauntella. I'm your new trainer. Welcome. Thanks Professor. Can I keep any extra pokemon outside of my six that I catch?"

"Yeah. I see why not. I've been meaning to study some Water pokemon. Here's your pokeballs and pokedex. Good luck on your journey. Are you going to be challenging the gyms?"

"No I don't think so."

"Okay. Enjoy your travels!" Shauntella attempted to return Squirtle to its pokeball. "Shauntella. It appears that it wants to walk around with you."

"You want to?" Squirtle nodded. "Want me to carry you or how do you want to do it?" Squirtle jumped up onto Shauntella's shoulder. "Thanks Professor. See you soon." Just when she was about to head out, Ryker of all people came running into the laboratory.

"Sorry. Let me help you up," Ryker said.

"Is that how you greet a friend, after a week of not seeing her?" Shauntella said incredulously.

"Shauntella? I'm sorry." The two lifelong friends gave each other a hug.

"Friends? Ah I see. Who are you, young man?" Professor Oak asked.

"Ryker Gladson. A trainer from Hoenn. Meet my starter, Treecko!" Ryker called out the Wood Gecko Pokemon.

"A Treecko. Excellent choice from the Hoenn starters."

"Shauntella? Wanna have a battle? To commemorate the start of our journey together?"

"Sure."

"I'll referee if that's alright. There's a battlefield in the back." Professor Oak said. The two trainers nodded. The professor lead them out back. "This one on one battle between Ryker Gladson and Shauntella Sebastian will now begin!"

The two trainers brought out their pokemon.

"Shauntella. Ladies first." Ryker said.

"Alright! Squirtle! Use Bubble!"

"Treecko! Counter it with Bullet Seed!" The Bullet Seed popped the Bubble attack and few stray seeds went to Squirtle.

"Dodge them!" Squirtle listened obediently. "Tackle!"

"Treecko! Head on! Pound Go!" The two moves made contact and reflected off of each other. "Now. Use Leech Seed!" The seeds hit Squirtle, slowly draining health and recovering Treecko. Professor Oak marveled at their skill despite being novices.

"That's right. Squirtle knows this attack." Shauntella told herself. "Rapid Spin to get rid of the seeds."

"Treecko! Agility! Dodge any incoming attacks."

"Retreat to your shell, Squirtle! Then use Water Gun and Rapid Spin together!" The water hit Treecko stopping Agility. "Excellent Squirtle."

"Treecko, finish this. Grass Pledge!"

"Squirtle! Counter with Water Pledge!" The two moves hit in the center and both pokemon struggled to overcome the other. They created an explosion. Once the dust settled, both Treecko and Squirtle were revealed to be knocked out.

"This battle is a tie!" Professor Oak said. "I guess this is it. Good luck you two. Ryker are you going to challenge the league?"

"Yeah."

"Come with me then. Both of you." The Professor let them back into his office.

 _End Flashback_

* * *

Shauntella kept thinking about their travels through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. The thought of a new region made her excited about finding new water and rock types. She found a love of them after getting a Kabutops during her travels in Kanto. They continued on the ship until it stopped at the port Littleroot with no complications. Ryker raced to his house where his assortment of pokemon were.

He saw his list on his bed still of his pokemon and where he caught them.

 **Kanto:** Charizard, Butterfree, Omastar, Weezing, Alakazam, Hitmonlee

 **Johto:** Donphan, Lapras, Noctowl, Typholsion, Feraligatr, Dragonair

 **Hoenn:** Sceptile, Manectric, Metagross, Absol, Combusken, Milotic

He added his captured pokemon from Sinnoh. He wrote in careful handwriting.

 **Sinnoh:** Froslass, Infernape, Togekiss, Lucario, Lopunny, Glaceon

He had a wide range of pokemon that gave him a useful ability to choose from in the Lily of the Valley Conference.

He called his pokemon to his porch to talk to them. His Lucario, Togekiss, Weezing, Noctowl, Combusken, and Dragonair all came to see him.

"I want to talk to the six of you. It's very unlike me to go to another region without more than 2 pokemon in my arsenal. I've thought it over and I want to ask the six of you to travel with me through the Unova region. The six of you will be very different than the pokemon in Unova. I will continue training you with me. The others are strong enough to train here without my help. You six still need a little training after the events of Sinnoh. Will you join me in this endeavor?" Ryker asked his pokemon. All six of them nodded, except for Weezing, who agreed with noise. "Before you start wondering, yes, Shauntella will be joining us for this journey. She's a childhood friend and she's great when it comes to help building speed and endurance. Let me get your pokeballs, we'll be leaving tommorow morning."

Ryker talked to his parents about his going to Unova. They supported him in whatever, knowing that he won't be home that often, opting to only staying a week at most after finishing a region. This day stay would be the shortest period of time for him, between regions. The day finished with no real interruptions and Ryker went to bed dreaming of Unova.

* * *

The longtime duo said goodbye to Ryker's family after getting on the plane to Viridian City where Shauntella would say goodbye to her parents. After two hours on the plane, they were greeted rather embarrasingnly.

"SHAUNTELLA! RYKER! WE'RE OVER HERE!" Shauntella's parents yelled, calling them over to them.

"Mom... Dad... What did I say about that?" Shauntella moaned about that, trying to use her long blue hair to cover her embarrassed red face.

"Sorry, we haven't seen our baby girl in a year!" her mom said.

"What about me?" Ryker joked seeing his best friend being loved to death. His comment was a case of bad timing. He was tackled by Shauntella's dad.

"We couldn't forget about our daughter's best friend and our son that we've never had," her dad said.

"Yay... Family," Shauntella said begrudgingly.

The four people went to the Sebastian's house to chat before their next plane that would take them to Unova would be taking off.

"So Ryker, going to challenge the gyms again?" Shauntella's dad asked.

"Yeah. I thought so hard I would actually make it to the finals or even win." Ryker said dejectedly.

"Ryker, you win make it to the finals. I guarantee you. You will make it to the finals of the Unova League and win it. You will beat Tobias. He has a weak point."

"I know that. I'm even increasing the amount of Pokemon that I'm taking with me. The training for this region will be intense. I have a feeling about it. There will be something that will push me even farther than usual."

"From what I've heard about Unova, you need nine badges to enter the league tournament, and they have a wider variety of gym leader than what you're most likely used to. Before they closed it off, I went to travel there. I found two things that will probably come in handy for both of you. I will go and get them." Shauntella's dad got up and went into his bedroom.

"Mom? Do you know anything about what he's getting?" Shauntella asked her mom.

"Yes. I'll let him explain them to you." The two trainers thought about what was going on. Shauntella's dad came back holding one case that seemed pretty old.

"Here. Open them." Both trainers opened them up. The cases held a stone that was colored with a variety of colors and a symbol that looked like a curvy leaf with stripes on it. "They are known as Key Stones. There is a further evolution for certain pokemon that have already fully evolved. Pokemon like Blastoise, Sceptile, Lucario, Blaziken, and others can further evolve into a temporary stage that is only in affect during battle. This stage is known as Mega Evolution. Not much is known about it other was is required to have a pokemon mega evolve. Three things are needed: This Stone which is called a Key Stone. The Pokemon that you wish to mega evolve needs to have a stone. They are hard to find, most Pokemon Collectors have Stones them despite the rarity, which causes them to sell for high prices. The final thing is a strong bond with your pokemon. Understand? It takes a lot to mega evolve a pokemon. Ever harder to control it after it. The power that the pokemon gets from it is nothing less than amazing."

"Wow. We are supposed to have these on hand to mega evolve? How would we constantly have it on at all times?"

"I have some clothing that should be able to help you out with your problem. Shauntella? You like headbands right?" Shauntella nodded. "Here's a headband that has a hole for the Key Stone." He handed her the headband. It was red and silver. Her outfit was a pink blouse and brown capri pants with matching flats.

"Mom?"

"I like it. It looks cute on you." Shauntella's smiled at the compliment.

"Ryker. I have a pair of gloves. You're right handed?" He nodded. The gloves that he got were blue and grey. They suited his outfit rather well. His chosen outfit was a pair of grey jeans and a purple shirt. His shoes were a pair of the approved Pokemon League tennis shoes in his favorite color, cadet blue. He slid the gloves on and attached the Key Stone to it.

"Literally fits like a glove. Thanks Mr. Sebastian."

"Remember? Call me Don."

"We should probably get going. The plane's about to leave."

"Yeah we probably should. Thanks again." The four did a group hug. The Sebastians took Shauntella and Ryker to the airport for their flight to Unova and more exactly Nuvema Town.

* * *

The flight to Unova took about 12 hours to get there. Luckily the duo caught a flight that flew during the night, so when they got there, the sun would be up.

The flight attendants woke up the passengers and said that they would be landing in a couple minutes.

"Hey Shauntella? I think we should head to Professor Juniper's lab. She's the regional professor here. She can upgrade our pokedex. It could come in handy." Ryker said.

"Yeah. That would be interesting. Who knows maybe can see the choice of starters? We could also put our pokemon there while we travel around Unova."

"By the way... Who did you bring with you? I'll tell you mine."

"I brought Blastoise, Kabutops, Aerodactyl, Masquerain, and Rhydon. My Quagsire, Politoed, Rampardos, Probopass, and Cradily didn't feel like travelling right now."

"Interesting. I know we talked about this in Hoenn. But Masquerain isn't in your type range. Water or Rock type. Shouldn't you release it?"

"Oh gosh Ryker. It's one of my pokemon. I've had it since it was a Surskit. It was a little bugger to catch. I love it. I won't release it. It's home is with me."

"You know how I feel about type specialists using other types of pokemon. I brought Noctowl, Weezing, Combusken, Dragonair, Lucario, and Togekiss."

"A full team?" Ryker nodded at the question. "That's interesting. You've never done that."

"I know. They need the training. That's why I brought them."

The duo got off of the plane and headed to the lab of Professor Juniper.

* * *

Two children of similar age were waiting Professor Juniper's lab for the arrival of their starter pokemon.

"Amberlynn? Do you know who you want?" the boy asked.

"George, I want Tepig. You want Snivy. We've been over this. We'll be good as trainers." Amberlynn said.

"I hope so, what if our pokemon don't like us?" George asked.

"Don't worry, they'll like us." Amberlynn said, squeezing George's shoulder.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I have your starters. I assume you have some idea what you want."

"Yeah we do."

"Excuse me? Professor Juniper? I have two veteran trainers here. They wish to upgrade their pokedex to include Unova pokemon," an assistant came in and asked.

"Bring them in. Sorry. Let me reveal them. Tepig! Snivy! Oshawott! Come on out!" Professor Juniper said with glee.

"Awesome! Those are the starters? The blue one looks like Piplup." Ryker said coming in, with Shauntella in tow.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were busy. I'll take my friend out." Shauntella said apologetically, realizing what was going on.

"It's fine. You must be the veterans."

"I wouldn't say veterans. We've just travelled through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Ryker has experience with League Tournaments. I don't."

"If you've travelled for a long time or participated in a couple of big tournaments, I consider you a veteran." Professor Juniper said.

"Thanks. Where's my manners? I'm Shauntella Sebastian. This is my close friend, Ryker Gladson."

"THE RYKER GLADSON! I watched your battle in the Sinnoh League. You lost in the semifinals against Tobias Andersen right? Your Togekiss fell to his Absol. I'm a huge fan. Easily your best battle in the entire competition."

"Thanks. First fan I've met, besides Shauntella." Ryker said.

"One of our Elite Four is named Shauntel, ironically." the girl said.

"My name's Amberlynn Slacki, this is George Pallack. We're getting our starters today."

"Oh Awesome. Choose away. My starter's at home right now. He's resting after the Sinnoh League." Ryker said.

"I choose Snivy." George said.

"I choose Tepig." Amberlynn said.

The two chosen pokemon looked happy at their new trainers. Oshawott on the other hand looked extremely disappointed.

"Sorry Oshawott. I'm going to have to release you. You're getting too old to stay here. I'm sorry." Professor Juniper said.

"I'll take him. It'll be nice to have a new water type. I haven't caught one since my travels through Johto." Ryker said. Oshawott instantly perked up at the sound of that. He started to cry at Ryker's request.

"I think he wants to go with you. I'll have to say okay. You sure about this?" Professor Juniper said.

"Yeah. Never been more positive. Oshawott, will you join my team?" Ryker asked. Oshawott nodded profusely at the request. "Awesome. Professor Juniper? Can I have his pokeball?"

"Yeah. Here it is. Oshawott, enjoy your time."

"Can I leave a pokemon here? I have a full team with me."

"Actually both of your regional professors called me yesterday. You are eligible to get an upgrade. I have new belts for you. These belts are able to hold 9 pokeballs. But if either of you catch more pokemon, you can leave them here and it'll be fine."

"Thanks. These are awesome."

"Hey Professor? Can me and Amberlynn battle right now?"

"Yeah. Follow me to the battlefield. Shauntella, Ryker, you're welcome to join us." The four followed. "I'll referee." Professor Juniper grabbed their pokedexes and Pokeballs.

"Tepig! You're up!" Amberlynn said.

"Snivy! Let's try our best!" George said.

"The one on one battle between Amberlynn Slacki and George Pallack will now begin! No substitutions!"

"Tepig! Light it up! Ember!"

"Snivy, dodge to the left, then Vine Whip." Snivy obeyed.

"He's tactical. Could mean pressure in the league." Ryker whispered to Shauntella who nodded at the comment.

"Tepig, Flame Charge!"

"She's relying on speed. Makes mistakes easily." Shauntella whispers back. The two veterans know the different types of trainers.

"Snivy, Double Team then Tackle."

"Tepig, Ember!" The small flames cut through the Double Team, damaging the real Snivy.

"Ugh. Snivy, get in close and use Twister!" Tepig got hit severely by the Dragon typed move and fell. "Easy. Snivy you're doing fine. Wrap this up with Tackle!" Tepig got hit and was knocked out.

"Tepig is unable to battle. Snivy wins. That means George Pallack wins this match!"

"Excellent job you two. Are you going for badges?"

"Yeah I am." George said.

"You'll be a formidable competitor. I hope we battle in the league. Until then we won't battle."

"Why not?"

"Right now, I'm too strong and I don't want to do any harm to your Snivy."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Amberlynn? What about you?"

"I don't know. I know me and George will be travelling together. You two travel together?"

"Yeah. We've been best friends since we were in diapers." Shauntella said.

"That's so neat. We've been friends since kindergarten. George moved here from Icirrus City. There's a gym up there. It's an ice typed gym." Amberlynn said.

"I guess this is it. Amberlynn, you coming?" George said.

"Yeah. We're heading to Aspertia City. We're bound to meet again. Until next time. See ya." Amberlynn said. "Bye guys." The two trainers left after hearing their farewells and getting their pokeballs and pokedexes. After a couple minutes of uneasy silence, Professor Juniper broke the ice.

"So... Your Pokedexes." she said.

"Yes. Here's mine." Ryker said fumbling to give it to her.

"Mine as well." Shauntella said doing the same.

A couple of minutes later...

"All done. Here you go." Professor Juniper said returning their pokedexes.

"Thank you Professor." They both said.

"Anytime. Here's your Xtranscievers. They're from Unova, similar to the Pokegear, PokeNav, and Poketch."

"Thank you again."

The duo set off to Accumula Town to new sights in the Unova region.

 _Next time..._

 _The duo encounter some strong and powerful pokemon who are giving them never before seen pokemon..._

 _Later..._

 _An old friend arrives in the Unova region..._


End file.
